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Judge Pfleger convicted of selfies with defenseless patients
If you are in the hospital, you should normally feel safe and well cared for. But in the emergency department of the Aachen University Hospital, a group of caretakers took advantage of the defenselessness of some seniors to do shabby and degrading "games" with them. Now the perpetrators have been convicted of "violation of the very personal life" by the district court of Aachen to probation or fines.
Defenselessness of the elderly exploited
It sounds unbelievable, but it seems to be a bitter reality: in the University Hospital in Aachen, several patients were victims of a group of carers, who made a joke of taking degrading photos with the seniors. The perpetrators were particularly perfidious, because the mostly elderly men and women could not defend themselves, as they were partially suffering from dementia or even anesthetized. The scandal at the university hospital came to the public in 2014, after selfies with patients from the university hospital surfaced on the internet.
Judgment against orderlies like. Image: 2mmedia - fotolia Money and probation for five carers
Now the four men and a woman between 25 and 32 years were sentenced by the District Court of Aachen for "violation of the very personal sphere of life". According to a report of the "Berliner Morgenpost", three of the men were sentenced to between six and eight months' probation. For the fourth man and the woman, fines of 70 daily rates of € 60 and € 50 were imposed. Thus, the verdict meets the demands of the prosecutor, the defense, however, had only spoken out for a fine in the case of all parties. The deeds would represent a "breach of trust", because the perpetrators had actually stood in the duty of care, justified the judge of the district court, Lena Michel-Rensen, their verdict.
Perpetrators are now working again in nursing homes
The motivation for the deeds, however, could not be clearly clarified in the process. "Apparently they acted completely impulsively. They were completely surprised by the avalanche they had triggered with it, "court spokesman Daniel Kurth is quoted by the newspaper. All five persons were dismissed from the hospital after the scandal became known, but according to Kurth, they would now be working in nursing homes without exception. A professional ban was not reported in the process, however, could possibly be the foreign professional licenses of some convicts be denied.
Eugen Brysch, director of the German Foundation for Patient Protection was disappointed that no professional ban was imposed. "After all, shameful shots of helpless people are no trivial offense. The gross violation of the dignity of a patient must be punished severely. Finally, caregivers have an outstanding duty of care that has been abused. Here the professional law must provide clarity. Such staff is unsuitable for the care of people, "said Brysch, according to the" Berliner Morgenpost. ".
Expert pleads for whistleblower system in clinics
In his opinion, a so-called "whistleblower system" should be introduced in clinics to detect maladministration as early as in the Aachen clinic. "Employees can also contact anonymously for such a job. Such references are then reported directly to the management of a house. This strengthens trust and promotes moral courage, "explains Brysch. Accordingly, incidents such as these should not be downplayed and regulated "internally", there should be no "culture of looking away".
According to the prosecutor, the incidents occurred between the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014. However, the deeds became known only in September 2014, after the medical director of the emergency department had received from an anonymous sender the vile photos of a total of nine patients. On it were seen, among other things, the partially unclothed sufferers who painted with pencils or smeared with foam against their will or without their knowledge as a photo subject had to serve. Whether painted vampire teeth on the face or pictures on which a nurse lies down to bed with a patient and makes a "victory sign" in the camera - the former caregivers of the Aachen hospital shied away from nothing and then even shared the pictures via WhatsApp their internal "nonsense group".
According to the "Berliner Morgenpost", a patient even had a mobile video showing up, as the obviously confused woman asks the orderly who he is. Then the man who was actually responsible for the well-being of the lady, replied: "A terrorist." Also this video landed in the WhatsApp group and served the perpetrators apparently as tasteless entertainment.
Clinic speaks of "absolute border crossing"
The University of Aachen had described the behavior of the carers at that time as "an absolute border crossing", classified the deeds however only as a "disciplinary offense" and not as a criminal offense. As a result, initially four employees were dismissed without notice, another nurse left shortly thereafter "by mutual agreement" the house. "With the information we had in 2014, we actually interpreted the incidents as a disciplinary offense. Had we had the knowledge that the public prosecutor's office gained in the course of its investigations, we would have checked more closely whether there was a criminal offense, "said Mathias Brandstädter, spokesman for the Aachen Clinic, to the newspaper. (No)